ToD Monk love

[dpadan17]

Being a dark monk (2 of em) it is kinda hard getting into ToD. Fortunately I know a bunch of people on my server (ghallanda) that makes it easier to get into it. So with that in mind, I have started to throw some pug ToD's up and have been quite successful (no i don't want a cookie). However, I just wanted to throw it out there that I set up a ToD last night and immediately got a barb and 2 light monks wanting to join. I thought sweet, im set for this for I already knew a kiter and a time. The rest of the party was interesting. 2 more dps dark monks wanted to join the party. hmmmm, do i accept? ( i felt conflicted for i am a monk) I thought wow, 5 monks in a tod? who would want to heal us? Well, after some thought and reassurance from the barb, i said....screw it, lets have some fun. I then got another barb, a ranger (good player) and 2 healers and my kiter and timi. so 5 monks in the Tod......our first run things went a little crazy. wierd things happened and we reset.

Then the fun began....we breezed through the mobs stunning everything in sight and mowing through it all. The judge went down rather quickly and the jailor had no chance. lol. one of the monks was the kiter for the jailor. did quite well. Part 2, the shadowmonster went down pretty fast. no complications. Part3 horoth went down really smooth.

I really really wish i had a screenshot to prove it. but that was a blast.

monk,monk,monk,monk,monk,barb,barb,ranger,timi,kit er,healer,healer.....very very fun.

I just want to personally thank all who participated in this fun adventure. who knows, i wouldn't hesistate to throw that one together again. maybe again in the near future. (3 days?).
lol

signed
Trixxii or Sprulok of Ghallanda

[Phidius]

The non-standard-party raids are routinely more fun and full of welcome surprises. I think it's more because of the attitudes of people who are willing to run in a non-optimal group than because the non-standard parties are actually better.

[dpadan17]

The non-standard-party raids are routinely more fun and full of welcome surprises. I think it's more because of the attitudes of people who are willing to run in a non-optimal group than because the non-standard parties are actually better.

well said. that was my thought when i accepted the other 2 monks. why not try and have fun at a game we all love ot play.

[sirgog]

ToD is about survival, not DPS. And survival is something dark monks excel at.

(Edit - Light monks as well, of course)

[SirTeo]

I can only imagine all those touch of despairs that constantly triggers off, I would love to run with my
tr'ed dark monk when I reach cap.

[DrenglisEU]

The non-standard-party raids are routinely more fun and full of welcome surprises. I think it's more because of the attitudes of people who are willing to run in a non-optimal group than because the non-standard parties are actually better.

/Signed, you couldn't be more RIGHT mate!

[msfjoseph]

ToD is about survival, not DPS. And survival is something dark monks excel at.

I for one have an opposite opinion, no offense

For me ToD is all about DPS.

Part 1, there basically is nothing to need to survive from. Just kill everything and move on.

Then comes Part 2. If you don't kill Shadowmaster fast enough, sooner or later that kiter will do something stupid, or lag, or just get unlucky with a newly spawned shadow in his face. Then it's game over no matter how high your survival rate is.

Same for Part 3 (though to a lesser extent). If you don't kill Horoth or Sully fast enough, sooner or later someone will screw up and die (or just get unlucky with a well timed stun/curse) and then Horoth heals, Clerics/FVS run out of mana due to a prolonged fight, game over.

[Quikster]

I for one have an opposite opinion, no offense

For me ToD is all about DPS.

Part 1, there basically is nothing to need to survive from. Just kill everything and move on.

Then comes Part 2. If you don't kill Shadowmaster fast enough, sooner or later that kiter will do something stupid, or lag, or just get unlucky with a newly spawned shadow in his face. Then it's game over no matter how high your survival rate is.

Same for Part 3 (though to a lesser extent). If you don't kill Horoth or Sully fast enough, sooner or later someone will screw up and die (or just get unlucky with a well timed stun/curse) and then Horoth heals, Clerics/FVS run out of mana due to a prolonged fight, game over.

ToD is more about working as a group or team, as is just about any other quest/raid. If DPS isnt maxed, its still more than feasible to have a smooth quick run. There are some baselines for dps needed in this game, but it falls far short of what most here on the forums claim.

Side note, do elite and tell me part 1 isnt about surviving

[t0r012]

3 touch of death monks for 500-1500 damages a shot
1 light path to align the heavens on the healers
the other to walk of the sun the melee

sounds like a perfect party to me , except the unelightened barbs wanting rolls on the good rings/sets.

[Alternative]

For me ToD is all about DPS.

Part 1, there basically is nothing to need to survive from. Just kill everything and move on.

Do elite then come back and repeat this.

[mboger]

More and more, whenever I try to join a ToD LFM, I get "Sorry, we already have a monk" and then the LFM is quickly updated to not allow any more monks. I find this ridiculous because there are so many roles in ToD a monk can fill:

- A light monk is the only character that can stun proof (and this is usually the only reason we're "allowed" in the LFM)
- Evasion for fire elemental cleanup
- Mob stunner
- Jailer kiting
- Sulu kiting
- Decent DPS against high fort bosses (and doubly so for dark monks)
- Light Monk buffs that stack with most other buffs

I've run plenty of ToDs as both the only monk and one of 2-4 monks and they always seem to go smoother with multiple monks. If there are at least two in the group, one almost always ends up being the kiter and I've seen a dark monk get the jailer down to 25% before the rest of the group was able to drop the judge, so the whole "we need DPS, not another monk" argument is total BS.

[Nathlin]

It is a good thing that the whole "We only need 1 monk for ToD" bullshyte doesnt happen on Orien.

[msfjoseph]

Do elite then come back and repeat this.

Oh I see, Elite. Well you got me there. Never done that.
I'm only part of a 4-person casual real life friends' guild so I only join/create PUGs. And you can never trust a PUG on Elite except on Reavers lol.

However I do think that this entire thread is talking about Normal. Cause I've never seen a PUG LFM for an Elite TOD. Ever. And I'm on my way to my 40th.

[sirgog]

Oh I see, Elite. Well you got me there. Never done that.
I'm only part of a 4-person casual real life friends' guild so I only join/create PUGs. And you can never trust a PUG on Elite except on Reavers lol.

However I do think that this entire thread is talking about Normal. Cause I've never seen a PUG LFM for an Elite TOD. Ever. And I'm on my way to my 40th.

There's two reasons noone does ToD elite outside guild groups:

1) A false assumption that Normal + Suulo has better loot than no Suulo Elite (elite drops more rings than normal, and exactly the same tome drop rate)
2) PUGs can't survive part 1. Getting flung into multiple traps that deal 300-350 damage each is rough - and real coordination is required to avoid it.

That said - DPS is only important in part 2 (where on Normal you can prevent shadows #5, 6, 7 and 8 from ever spawning with high DPS, and on Hard you can prevent #7 and 8). In part 3, pretty much every successful group massively reduces their early damage output by waiting for someone to firmly establish aggro on Horoth (there's a HUGE possible source of increased DPS - start whacking Horoth immediately - if you try it, let me know how long it takes you to wipe), and further sacrifices DPS by having arcanes and/or melees disengage to kill trash (rather than focussing all damage on Suulo and/or Horoth).

[Odin's_Hugin]

ToD is about survival, not DPS. And survival is something dark/light monks excel at.

Corrected.